WhatsApp Limits Users To 5 Text Forwards To Curb Rumours

Posted on January 22, 2019

WhatsApp is limiting worldwide the number of times a user can forward a message to five, starting on Monday, the popular messaging service looks to fight “misinformation and rumours”, company executives said on Monday.

Previously, a WhatsApp user could forward a message to 20 individuals or groups.

The limit of five is in expansion of a measure WhatsApp put in place in India in July after the spread of rumours on social media led to killings and lynching attempts. “We’re imposing a limit of five messages all over the world as of today,” Victoria Grand, Vice President for Policy and Communications at WhatsApp, said at an event in the Indonesian capital.

WhatsApp, which has around 1.5 billion users, has been trying to find ways to stop misuse of the app.
This followed global concern that the platform was being used to spread fake news, manipulated photos, videos without context, and audio hoaxes, with no way to monitor their origin or full reach.